SAARC Literature Festival to begin

The impact of environment will be the focus of the 33rd SAARC Festival.

New Delhi: The impact of environment on literature will be the focus of the SAARC Festival of Literature at the India International Centre March 26-29. Writers, academics, artists, folklorists, historians, greens, and peace and gender activists from eight South Asian countries will discuss how nature and environment have been key constituents of literature as well as visual and performing arts since times immemorial, a communique from the Foundation of SAARC Writers` and Literature said Wednesday.

It has been organised by the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL) in collaboration with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). The highlight will be a series of seminars on nature, literature, art, health, reconnecting to myths and legends about environment, globalisation, tribal perspective on ecology, heritage, architecture and civilizations. The discussions will be followed by book reading and recitation of poetry and performances by the SAARC writers` community. A selection of papers presented by the participants will be published in a special commemorative journal, "Beyond Borders", while the short stories and poems will be compiled in anthologies. The organisers said the "recommendations and action plans emerging from the discussion about the course that SAARC literature and green movements will chart in the years to come will be shared with environmental working groups in South Asian region and the governments of SAARC countries". "The foundation is determined to keep alive the cultural heritage of the SAARC region and strengthen cultural connectivity among neighbours through positive, meaningful and result-oriented efforts of the creative fraternity as important track two initiatives," the communique said. FOSWAL was created in 1986 as the first visionary organisation in the region to "debate and arrive at a consensus on culture, literature and common socio-economic problems confronting the SAARC countries and common concerns of the creative fraternity of the region". It is the only non-profit organisation working in the specific areas of literature and culture to set up new linkages. IANS